BICYCLE AMBULANCE SAVING LIVES IN THE RURAL AREAS

     By Claudio Sandoval

 This is an amazing and touching story narrated firsthand by Mr. Kazigonde Mapemba, member of Mulatha Village in the District of Mulanje, where he tells how a bicycle ambulance made the difference for him between life and death.

Kazigonde Mapemba

Kazigonde narrated that in a particular day he was quite alright and went about doing his normal work around the house and in his garden.  At the end of the day after returning home, he suddenly felt sick.  He felt weak and feverish and then started opening bowels. The situation deteriorated very rapidly and he became so weak.  It was then discovered that he had contracted cholera and needed to be transported to the health clinic urgently.

Deadly distance
The normal means of transporting a patient to hospital is to make a temporary stretcher using wooden poles which takes a lot of time to construct additional to the long distance from Mulatha Village to the nearest Health Center that is about 25 kilometers of bad road. 

A blessing for thousands
Blissfully for him, Mulatha Village had recently been benefited with a bicycle ambulance, donated by ADRA Malawi, as part of the Project: Bicycle Ambulances for Rural Communities in Malawi funded by the Ayuntamiento de Elche from Spain. At present this bicycle ambulance is increasing and facilitating a prompt and timely heath access to more than 5,700 people in Mulatha Village.

No time to loose
The patient narrated that when he was being transported, he really did not know what was happening as he was almost unconscious due to the weakness.  It was when he had arrived at the hospital and received some treatment and came to his senses that he realized he was in the hospital. This shows how seriously sick he had been. Due to the kind of disease it was extremely vital for him to receive a quick and appropriate treatment. 

Relief and gratitude
-“I believe I could have died that day had it not been for the presence of the bicycle ambulance which enabled my relatives to move me quickly to the nearest health facility”-, Kazigonde said.  -“The availability of the bicycle ambulance meant that we did not waste time constructing a stretcher but quickly moved to take him to the hospital”-, one of Kazigonde’s relatives also mentioned.

-“I am very grateful to ADRA for the donation of the bicycle ambulance and ask that God could bless the organization and the donors for the timely gesture”-, Kazigonde finalized.